I like using natural dyes. The problem is that a lot of them are rather smelly to process. And that process takes hours, so the whole house gets to share the smell. In warmer climates, people set up some form of camping stove outside, so that they can enjoy the weather and avoid the smell.
In a Yorkshire winter, cooking outside isn’t so appealing.
I’ve got a studio attached to the house, and the connecting door is very convenient. But any smell in there will find its way into the rest of the house. So I’m setting up a dye house a separate garage. There are various bits and pieces that I need to have handy when I’m out there, and of course there are some things that need to be kept in the garage anyway. So I need a storage unit.
I saved the pallets from the recent building work, and I’ve seen lots of ideas on Pinterest for turning them into furniture. Of course, my pallets don’t seem to work for any of the plans I’ve seen, so I’ve had to use my initiative. With the aid of a jig saw, some cable ties and a bit of MDF, this is what I’ve made. 
I’m getting low on the embroidered scarf rings, so I’ve been making some more.
But this week, there was a big step forward. The old garage doors have gone. They were beautifully made wooden ones, but as the opening is nice and wide, they were very heavy. They had sagged on their hinges.
So something had to be done. After a lot of thought, I’ve gone for single garage doors, with windows in the top, and windows down the side. Light is flooding in, and it is actually warm now. As this is side of the house faces north, that light is the ideal sort for a studio.
Once the lads have finished sealing round the outside, I will be emptying the greenhouse into tubs to go across the ramp in front of the windows, which will cheer the view up considerably. Assuming my carefully selected windproof plants can settle down, so fingers crossed there.
And then there is a list of things to sort out before the place is how I want it. A sink needs to go in, I need some curtains for when I’m in there after dark…
Most easily available natural dyestuffs give beige gold or beige.
Logically, therefore, the next thing to try is putting less paste on. So my next idea was to pipe a pattern onto the fabric with an icing pump.
I wonder whether this is a pair, or whether it just happens that two were kept together? I’ve never seen anything quite like these, which make a nice addition to my collection of old coat hangers.
This design combines two techniques, which as you can see from the picture gives some very different results.
First, the basic shapes of a tree trunk standing on a hillside was drawn, using wax.
pattern on the surface. It isn’t possible to control this pattern, which depends on the wetness of the colour as well as the dryness of the salt crystals.
Well, I’ve finally bitten the bullet.
